SCOTT WANTS WIN FOR ADY AND FANS...
Gills eager to turn fortunes around
A BOUNCE in form normally follows a managerial appointment, but Ady Pennock’s first eight games as Gillingham head coach went by without a win – this was not the start to life in the EFL that he envisioned.
Yet midfielder Scott Wagstaff claims he is already sold on Pennock, and insists the squad are desperate to embark on a winning run to prove just how much they’ve taken to their new boss.
The 45-year-old moved to the Gills from National League South side Welling United, where he had been working as a consultant, in early January but it has been a bumpy ride to date.
Incredibly, six of his first eight games in charge ended in draws, with Wagstaff admitting the 94th-minute equaliser Chesterfield bagged at the MEMS Priestfield Stadium 12 days ago was particularly hard to take.
However, the 26-year-old is loving life under the former Forest Green Rovers manager, even if the disappointment at a lack of victories is growing.
“There is frustration around,” said Wagstaff. “We don’t want to be drawing games, we want to be winning them and we’ve been in positions where we should be leaving with three points but haven’t.
“Hopefully we can go on a winning run now and get those points on the board because it’s horrible when you don’t win. You wake up on Sunday morning having lost or drawn and it’s not nice.
“Managers want to put their own points across and it has been different playing for Ady, but it has been good.
“The lads have taken to him really well. It has been a good experience for us – the training is intense and we’ve done a lot of work on our shape as a team, which will only help us in the long run.
Intense
“The gaffer is a really good man, so hopefully we can pick up the results that show how much we’ve taken to him.
“We want to win one for the gaffer but also for the fans who have stuck by us through this tough time.”
The winless streak, which stretched back to December 17 heading into yesterday’s game with Southend, has seen the Gills plummet down the table.
Many footballers will tell you that they don’t check the league standings, preferring to focus just on the next game, but not Wagstaff.
“Anyone who says they don’t look at the table is a liar! Everyone looks at the table and it’s not good reading for us at the minute,” he added.
“At the start of the season, we backed ourselves to be up challenging for promotion rather than relegation but it has not turned out that way.
“Once we get one win, we’ll get more because it breeds confidence.
“The spirit is good and the lads are positive, so we need to turn it around for the staff and ourselves because we’re in it together.”
Wagstaff believes the Gills have been unfortunate during recent weeks but does concede that an improvement is needed at both ends of the pitch.
“We’ve been playing some good stuff but haven’t kept the clean sheets,” explained Wagstaff. “That starts from the front, all the way to the back. Then we need to be more ruthless in front of goal as well. We haven’t finished teams off and they start to think ‘we can nick something here’.
“We need to put teams to bed and once we do that, it will all be good.”